September 21, 2010

I've had several people ask me about my current header on my blog. Yes, I made it myself, and while I normally use Photoshop for things like this, I actually did this one in Picnik because of computer problems at the time. This is really simple to do, so I thought I'd share for those of you who were wanting to know.

1. Go to www.picnik.com and create an account. It's free, and is a great site! I also use it to make a lot of my photo collages. There is a paid version that gives you more features, but I just use the free version and it meets my needs fine.

2. Click on the "collage" button.

3. There are several styles of collages to choose from. For a blog header, obviously you want a rectangular shaped one. I chose the 4 frame option.
4. Upload the photos you want to use in your header, and drag and drop them in the frames where you want them. You can also change the color of the frame by clicking on the color square on the left side of the page. Once you have it laid out the way you want, click "Done" at the top right.

5. Next, I wanted to add some text to my header to include my blog name. So click on the "text" button at the top of the page. Type what you want in the box, and choose from a variety of fonts to have it displayed in. You can also change the color by clicking on the right side of the page. I used 2 different fonts, and in order to do this you need to add 2 separate text boxes. Then just drag & drop where you want your text to appear.

6. When you have everything the way you want it, click on "save & share" at the top of the page.

7. On the next page, name your file. Then adjust the size to fit your blog template. Generally speaking, if you adjust it to 94%, it should fit most standard blogger templates. If you know the dimensions of your blog you can type that instead. Then hit "save photo", and save it to your computer.

8. After that, log in to your blogger account, click on "design", then click on "edit" in the header box.

9. Select "from your computer", then click "browse" and locate the file you previously saved to your computer. Also make sure to select the button that says "instead of title and description." Then click save, and then save again on your main blog design page, and you're good to go.

I hope this tutorial was useful to you; please let me know if you have any questions!

I work in PS too but I've always wondered about Picnik. Really beautiful layout you have--although I think has has more to do with the gorgeous photos! But you've convinced me to give Picnik a try. Thanks for sharing this!

Thank you! This was a fantastic tutorial! I used it to make a header for my blog (I'm new to blogging... come visit @ justfordaisy.blogspot.com) and now I'm hooked on Picnik!!Thanks Sarah, I'm enjoying reading your blog! Praise God for your beautiful boy! x Rebekah (Australia)ps. if you don't mind i'd like to do a post and link to your site/tutorial! :)

I researched for hours... I just wanted something simple and couldn't figure out why this was so hard for people to explain to me! So many detailed instructions with terms I didn't understand. Thank you so much for your tutorial. I REALLY appreciate it, and I love my new header.

I did it! Thanks so much! Of course, when you tweak one thing, you have to tweak another. I still have a lot to learn. I'd love it if you stopped over to check it out. http://creating-with-the-js.blogspot.com/Thanks again for sharing!

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